58132 - Physical Chemistry of Materials L

Learning outcomes

The course has the objective of providing an overview of several important classes of advanced materials (particularly the various types of liquid crystals, polymers, glasses, colloids, nanoporous materials) and to rationalize their properties, particularly those closer to practical applications (e.g. displays, thermal sensors etc.), in molecular terms.
We shall also examine some essential material characterization techniques, like Differential Scanning Calorimetry and Xrays.
A brief introduction to computer modelling and simulation techniques, to be treated more in detail in the "Laurea Specialistica" course, will be given, mainly with the aim of understanding the basic workings of the Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics codes currently of great importance also in an Industrial context

Course contents

Condensed Matter States and Materials.    The condensed phases of matter and the qualitative description of their structure and properties in terms of molecular ordering.Crystals and some of their typical optical (birefringence) and mechanical (Young modulus) features. Liquids (optical isotropy, fluidity). Liquid crystals and their applications as advanced materials: nematics (functioning of Twisted Nematic, In Plane Switching, Vertical Alignment  Liquid Crystal Displays), cholesterics (thermal sensors), smectics (displays  endowed with memory), discotics (columnar phases and molecular wires). Lyotropic phases and self-assembling systems: micelles, liposomes, bilayers.  Polymers. Elastomers. Colloids.

Intermolecular forces. Electrostatic  interactions.  Induction and dispersion forces. Empirical potentials: Hard spheres, Square Well, Lennard-Jones.  Hydrogen bond, hydrophobic interactions.  The effect of the interaction range on the aggregation states of condensed matter and colloids. Relative importance of the different type of forces in solution.  

Dielectric  properties of  materials .  Dielectrics. Polarization mechanisms. Dielectric  constant and  refractive index.  Frequency dependence  of  the  dielectric  constant. Ferroelectric  materials. Piezoelectrics   .

Magnetic  properties of  materials.  Diamagnetic,  paramagnetic  and  ferromagnetic  materials.

Phase Transitions.   Phase diagrams .Phase  transitions  and  their classification (Ehrenfest, Landau - deGennes). Supercritical solvents and their applications. Metastability. Glassy state in inorganic glasses.

Interactions between colloidal particles  Elements of colloid stability. Hamaker  model.   Elements  of  Lifshitz  theory. Electrical double layer  theory . Gouy Chapmann theory and Debye‐Hückel approximation.  Zeta potential.   DLVO theory.

 X-ray diffraction and its applications in Materials Science . Bragg's law. Single crystal and powder spectra. X-ray of amorphous materials, polymers, glasses. SAXS.

Relating molecular and macroscopic properties . A brief  introduction to modelling and computer simulation techniques (Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics). Examples of the application of simulation techniques to materials.

Readings/Bibliography

Teaching methods

Assessment methods

Teaching tools

Office hours

See the website of Silvia Orlandi